John Corkins, vice president of the Board of Trustees of the Kern Community College District Board, has a simple solution for those faculty who question diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs: take them to the slaughterhouse. Corkins has since apologized but the Board conspicuously failed to address other glaring problems with his extreme rhetoric.At the meeting, Corkins responded to students and faculty complaining about a racially hostile environment. Faculty opposed to DEI policies were referenced as part of this threat. Corkins declared that there are “abusive” faculty that “we have to continue to cull.”He added: “Got them in my livestock operation and that’s why we put a rope on some of them and take them to the slaughterhouse. That’s a fact of life with human nature and so forth, I don’t know how to say it any clearer.”
“My intent was to emphasize that the individuals who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting have my full support…several African-American faculty, students and statewide representatives … bravely shared their feelings of fear based on the actions of a small group of faculty members and their feelings of disappointment in the district for allowing these actions to continue.”
Notably, however, the video of the Dec. 13 meeting does not give details on the specific racial incidents. There is reference to an ongoing investigation. However, there are references to faculty who have opposed DEI measures.
That would likely include a group called the Renegade Institute for Liberty with history Professors Matthew Garrett and Erin Miller, who teach at Bakersfield College. The group filed a federal lawsuit against the district after they were allegedly threatened with termination for questioning the use of grant money to fund social justice initiatives at their college. They are both tenured.
The opposition to DEI measures has led some to object that the group makes them feel unsafe on campus. That reportedly included calls to terminate faculty who oppose DEI to create a safer environment.
While apologizing for calling for the killing of such faculty, Corkins does not address why faculty should be targeted if they oppose DEI measures. The hearing and the statements made against these faculty members creates a chilling environment for academic freedom. The message is clear that these professors are viewed as a dangerous element on campus.
The Board has an obligation to address this uncertain line. Corkins apologizes for calling for the killing of critics but not why criticism of DEI itself is a matter for action. There may be conduct that is threatening or violent. There is no indication of any criminal complaint, but there is a need to preserve an open and tolerant environment. However, that also includes tolerance for opposing views on issues like DEI.
There is no major campaign to remove Corkins. I am less inclined for such removal as I am interested in greater clarity on the rights of free speech and academic freedom. Everyone makes dumb comments in unguarded moments. I accept that Corkins was carried away by the emotion of the moment. Moreover, Corkins was referencing “abusive” faculty and not necessarily putting all DEI critics in that category. That is precisely what should be clarified.
However, it would likely be a different story if a board member called for the “culling” of DEI supporters or groups on the left. There remains a double standard in how such controversies are handled in academia.
The support enjoyed by faculty on the far left is in sharp contrast to the treatment given faculty with moderate, conservative or libertarian views. Anyone who raises such dissenting views is immediately set upon by a mob demanding their investigation or termination. This includes blocking academics from speaking on campuses like a recent Classics professor due to their political views. Conservatives and libertarians understand that they have no cushion or protection in any controversy, even if it involves a single, later deleted tweet. At the University of North Carolina (Wilmington) one such campaign led to a professor killing himself a few days before his final day as a professor.
I have defended faculty who have made similarly disturbing comments on the left, including “detonating white people,” abolish white people, denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements. I also defended the free speech rights of University of Rhode Island professor Erik Loomis, who defended the murder of a conservative protester and said that he saw “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence. (Loomis was later made Director of Graduate Studies of History at Rhode Island).
Even when faculty engage in hateful acts on campus, however, there is a notable difference in how universities respond depending on the viewpoint. At the University of California campus, professors actually rallied around a professor who physically assaulted pro-life advocates and tore down their display.
When these controversies arose, faculty rallied behind the free speech rights of the professors. That support was far more muted or absent when conservative faculty have found themselves at the center of controversies. The recent suspension of Ilya Shapiro is a good example. Other faculty have had to go to court to defend their free speech rights. One professor was suspended for being seen at a controversial protest.
The message from this hearing could be viewed by some as affirming that criticism of DEI is now viewed a threatening language. For conservative, libertarian, or contrarian faculty, it is not clear if such views will now be tolerated or viewed as grounds for termination (or a barrier to hiring).
This comes at a time when many faculties have indeed “culled” their ranks of conservatives. A new survey of 65 departments in various states found that 33 do not have a single registered Republican.
In a recent column, the editors of the legal site Above the Law mocked those of us who objected to the virtual absence of conservative or libertarian faculty members at law schools. Senior editor Joe Patrice defended “predominantly liberal faculties” based on the fact that liberal views reflect real law as opposed to junk law. (Patrice regularly calls those with opposing views “racists,” including Chief Justice John Roberts because of his objection to race-based criteria in admissions as racial discrimination). He explained that hiring a conservative academic was akin to allowing a believer in geocentrism (or that the sun orbits the earth) to teach at a university.
It is that easy. You simply declare that conservative views shared by a majority of the Supreme Court and roughly half of the population are invalid to be taught.
It is not limited to faculty. Polls now show that 60 percent of students fear sharing their views in class. Various polls have shown the same fear with some showing an even higher percentage of fearful students. There is a growing orthodoxy taking hold on our campuses with growing intolerance for dissenting faculty and students alike.
There are faculty who have raised concerns over DEI initiatives, land acknowledgment, and other policies. Even with the apology, the Board has allowed the underlying threat to linger. It should state why the opposition of faculty members, including filing in court, could be deemed as threatening or unacceptable viewpoints.
“THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS”
– Diversity, equity and inclusion are incoherent, extraneous, counterintuitive, counterproductive, impulsive and arbitrary edicts of the irrational communist “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
– Merit is the sole imperative in the competitive free markets of the private sector, and in public sectors that seek to eliminate waste and fraud, increase efficiency and lower costs.
Jonathan: John Corkins deserves to be called out for calling for opponents of DEI initiatives to be taken out to the “slaughterhouse”. He later apologized but there is little in your column that would provide context except for your reference to the “details of specific racial incidents”. Perhaps the DEI initiatives were meant to address these issues. But it appears Kern County is no stranger to racial tensions. Since 2016 and before Black and Hispanic students have complained about harassment and other forms of intimidation. Parents have complained to school district officials. Back in 2020 the “Kern County Educators for Ethnic Studies” (KCEES) complained that the district prohibited teachers and students from wearing “Black Lives Matter” t-shirts. Over protests the district rescinded the policy. But the KCEES also pointed out that earlier in the year a Bakersfield school district employee confronted a woman and her daughter who were attending a Black Lives Matter rally telling them: “”I’ll (expletive) kill you”. After the brutal murder of George Floyd by a racist, school districts across the country began to seriously address racial issues and how to promote programs to address racism. Kern County school districts followed suit to try to reduce racial tensions through DEI initiatives.
So why would a few conservative teachers (only 2 have filed a federal lawsuit) be opposed to the KCCD DEI initiatives? I think conservatives took their cue from Donald Trump. As President he was the loudest opponent of CRT and DEI initiatives. He charged schools and universities were spreading “hateful lies” to children. He even created a commission to promote a rosier, more “patriotic” view of US history. He denied systemic racism was a problem. Trump’s racist views found resonance among white conservatives and legislators. One Idaho GOP legislator said CRT teaches that Spanish and other explorers were, in his words, “oppressors, colonists” rather than as he portrayed them as “people who were risking their lives going across the oceans with their dreams to find new lands”. A “rosier” view of US history a lot of conservatives still cling to.
So across the country conservatives are out to stamp out CRT and DEI initiatives. In Florida and other GOP controlled states teaching about the racial history of the country is strictly prohibited. Books on race and LGBTQ+ issues are banned from school libraries. I have never heard you complain about this obvious “free speech” issue. So when I hear you complain about John Corkins I think of the guy who falsely shouted “fire” in a movie theater. It got a lot of attention but for the wrong reasons.
Denis McIntyre, did the school district allow MAGA hats? Whats your guess? Your right. Bocks on phalacio are banned on Jr. High Schools in Florida. I always read this book banning argument from you but you never say what kind of books are being banned. Yes books that tell white children that they are born racist are being banned in Florida. I would be in the wrong if I presented a book to a child in elementary school that said that all black people are born with a hate white people gene. Once you hit the book banning regurgitation your argument falls apart. To you it never gets old but to us it’s just more failed propaganda to add to the rest. Again I ask that you present what books are being banned and what is the subject matter. Please tell us about the lawn boys having oral sex with each other and their employer. Funny how you never say what books are being banned. Sorry. Not so funny.
Thinkitthrough: You are wrong. In previous comments I have listed some of the titles banned from school libraries. You apparently were not paying attention. So to repeat my self here are some of the books–many are “classics”:
1. “Maus”–a graphic cartoon novel about the Holocaust
2. “Harry Potter” series by JK Rowling
3. “To Kill a Mockingbird”
4. Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Flynn”
5. “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck
4. “The Catcher in the Rye” by JD Salinger
5. ” The Color Purple” by Alice Walker–and the list goes on.
Is this enough for you? During the 2021-22 school year, 138 school districts in 32 states banned more then 2,500 books. Conservatives and GOP politicians focused on books with LGBTQ characters as well as books dealing with race and racism. Florida has the third highest number of school book banning. Among the titles are:
1. “The House of the Spirits” by Isabel Allende
2. “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood–later made into a movie
3. “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley
4. “Beloved” by Tony Morrison–and the list goes on.
Have you read any of the above books? You won’t find in any of these books subjects about “lawn boys having oral sex with each other”. So tell me, what is the title of the book you reference?
Wow! any book anyone anywhere has ever tried to remove from a public school!
Huckleberry Fin as an example is typically attacked by LEFT wing groups for its use of the N word.
J.K. Rowley is being boycotted by the Left.
Brave New World is an anti-left dystopia, like 1984
Handmaid’s tale offends nearly everyone, it is libertarian, anti-porn, anti-left, anti-several varieties of feminist. Anti-socialist.
Catcher in the Rye, glorifies violence, is full of offensive language, glorifies alcohol and drug use.
How about something that a significant conservative group has tried to get removed TODAY ?
Regardless, Adults deciding what is taught in public schools or what books are in public school libraries is
NOT censorship, and it is NOT banning books.
Education is a limited resource. A school library is not the public library.
What is appropirate K-6, is not the sameas what is appropriate in HS,
All excellent books are not age appropriate for all school students.
All of these books are available on Amazon. No one is trying to ban them merely by restricting their use in schools.
If someone has committed an actual crime – Arrest them.
Most everything else is NOT the business of Government.
Jusse Smollet claimed that he was the victim of racist MAGA violence.
In case you have not figured it out – CLAIMS are not enough.
Do you have actual instances of misconduct ?
People on this blog – like you say nasty things about me all the time.
That’s life.
Grow up,
Get over it.
Everyone in life is not going to like you.
That will be exponentially more true if you are actually good at anything.
Government is not our parent.
Adults can work things out on their own,
or they can keep their distance.
They do not need “big brother” to step in over every unkind word, or imagined slight.
However, it would likely be a different story if a board member called for the “culling” of DEI supporters or groups on the left. There remains a double standard in how such controversies are handled in academia.
Imagine the response if Alabama Governor Kay Ellen Ivey (R) called for the culling of Hillary Clinton, Democrats and CIA, FBI leaders, for orchestrating the Russian collusion lie and rigging the 2020 election by Big Tech censorship, and creating feelings of fear based on the actions of a small group of
faculty memberselite White politicians and their feelings of disappointment in thedistrictDOJ for allowing these actions to continueMatt Taibbi drops the mother of all Twitter files detailing how Hillary, Democrats and CIA/FBI et al came to use Big Tech but especially Twitter to lie about everything and strike fear in America.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/twitter-files-why-twitter-let-intelligence-community
“Twitter Files: Why Twitter Let The Intelligence Community In”
Twitter through the end of August, 2017 was on nobody’s radar as a key actor in the Trump-Russia “foreign influence” scandal. By the second week in October — six weeks later — the company was being raked over the coals in the press as “one of Russia’s most potent weapons in its efforts to promote Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton,” with Clinton herself adding:
It’s time for Twitter to stop dragging its heels and live up to the fact that its platform is being used as a tool for cyber-warfare
Hardly a day goes by when some left wing nut here does not claim that J6 protestors actually wanted to hang mike pence.
Neither this event nor J6 were actual threats of violence.
What is relevant here is that this threat DID reflect bother the power and the intent to impose non-violent consequences, like the lost of a job, and was from someone with the power to do so.
>rope
Funny, a rope figures prominently in what I feel about college trustees and administrators.
Anyone heard of Heterodox Academy? One academic I know says it holds out some hope for resisting cultural death due to wokeness.
https://heterodoxacademy.org/
Turley claims no references to the incident are in the video but conveniently shares the link to skip to the end. If you watch the beginning of the video, you will hear the public comments made by student and faculty. Also, Miller and Garrett lost a portion of their lawsuit already due to its frivalous nature and had to pay $11k to the defendants’ lawyers. The one sided nature of this “article” is ridiculous.
Andrew Bond, a.k.a., “James.” Well, if you will pretend to be “James” then I will pretend to be you. Look at me. I’m an angry social justice warrior. Literally, I am the lone operator of the Bakersfield College Social Justice Institute Facebook page and the former faculty advisor to the BC socialist student club that collapsed because nobody wanted to join my club. And I like to falsely accuse my colleagues of misconduct and then throw a fit when outsiders notice there are no facts to back up my claims. I’m costing my college district hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees protecting my false allegations intended to silence conservative colleagues, but those darn conservative faculty just keep speaking so now I’m really mad. I’m totally comfortable with threats of violence against my opponents because they should be silenced; their words are violence! In fact, I think diversity of thought and free speech are just conservative ploys to protect evil conservative viewpoints that we must vanquish from the campus. I even stated that openly to the BC Academic Senate last month when I said I oppose the Chicago Principles that allow “unfettered free speech that also is free of consequence. . . and the problem with that is that people can then turn around and share misinformation or false information without fear of repercussion. . . . I also wanted to make sure people realize that DEI work has to do with protected classes and political ideology is not a protected class no matter how much you want to bring in quote on quote diversity of thought as a protected class or some kind of protected status. You can’t, and the Chicago Principles are trying to do that, and its a very specific political ploy that is meant to undermine rather than help.” (English Professor Andrew Bond, a.k.a. “James,” to the Bakersfield College Academic Senate, November 30, 2022)
One must question how this administrator got his job, from a professional point of view.
This sort of loose irresponsible talk should have consequences —-
I’ve been writing for quite a long time that the most powerful group to provide the consequences are the Alumni, in particular those who contribute substantially to the colleges and universities across the country.
Woke = Broke
Not an administrator. He says he runs a “livestock operation.”
He is a business man, on the Board of Trustees. Not sure if California elects those at the county level, or appointed by an elected official.
In California, school board members, including community college trustees, are elected to four-year terms. The school districts and community college districts have parallel hierarchies to the political jurisdictions like counties.
The livestock business is a lot like the school business: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTAud5O7Qqk
Richard Lowe, I too have advocated for the Alumni to assert their power to clean things up. I would be done in silence and positive change would start to take place.
That’s OK
It’s time for some music & dance. Get ready for the 1st of February festivities, “Candlemas Eve”.
Another day, just like the last one, a Moron takes to the stage in his entire splendor. See ME’ aren’t [i] WOKE and such an intellectual I be. Insane leftists such as Mr. Corkins must have never read Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, otherwise he’d know that the Pigs are in control, and we animals will not be going to the Slaughterhouse.
In times past there was a remedy for such dunces, the corner they be, with a particular hat included, made to sit until they understood. In Mr. Corkins case it would be to read the Constitution and in Particular the Bill of Rights.
I notice the lady sitting to the left, sitting there, nodding her head in agreement, smiling and laughing. Scary.
Professor Turley chooses to comment on this rather than De Santis pressuring university professors in Florida to teach classes that align with his political beliefs:
https://www.propublica.org/article/desantis-critical-race-theory-florida-college-professors
You may disagree with the content, but if you truly care about academic freedom, you should be sounding the alarm about this type of pressure campaign with as much gusto as you attack the left for doing the same.
+100
Agreed. And, who ever heard of this “community college” anyway? Turley is stirring the culture wars on this little story, ducking the big political story, which is that McCarthy failed in his first vote to be Speaker of the House. That hasn’t happened in 100 years. Plus, the reason is the radical Republicans who demand concessions. The Republican party lost it’s north star when it allowed Trump into the fold. Truth and integrity went out the window in favor of doing everything possible to get power and seek revenge on perceived enemies who couldn’t be bullied and who wouldn’t go along with the lies and/or cover up Trump’s utter failures. Today, Trump again resurrected the false claims against the Georgia poll worker and her mother, despite being told months ago, after an investigation by law enforcement, that there were no “suitcases” of fake ballots–the containers they were counting from were official ballot containers. Nevertheless, he just can’t stop lying.
Republicans lost their north star when they began following the progressive star. Trump redirected the party towards true north and and in so doing, the Republicans have found a a new star…a conservative star…Ron DeSantis.
When the world lost its mind, when common sense suddenly became an uncommon virtue, Florida was a refuge of sanity, a citadel of freedom for our fellow Americans, and even for people around the world,” DeSantis said. “In captaining the ship of state, we choose to navigate the boisterous sea of liberty rather than cower in the calm docks of despotism.”
“We face attacks, we take hits, but we weather the storms,” DeSantis continued. “We stand our ground, and we do what’s right. Gov. DeSantis 2023 Inaugural Address
“Everything Trump Touches Dies”. Outstanding book by Rick Wilson, Republican strategist. He knows what he’s talking about. Why not read it and learn about your hero, who trashed our economy, our public health, our relations with our EU and NATO allies, but mostly our faith in free and fair elections and the sanctity of our Capitol and the dignity of the US Presidency. Trump can’t “redirect” himself, much less a major political party. He can’t even successfully run a casino or stay true to a spouse. All his businesses lose millions of dollars year after year, and the only money he makes is on investments his father bequeathed him, yet he has people believing that he’s a genius at business. Trump is a cheater and liar, and if you think his pattern of lying and seeking vainglory attention and adulation, which is all he really does, constitute “true north”, you’re sadly mistaken.
Trump can’t “redirect” himself, much less a major political party.
And yet here we are, 2 years out of office and he still has your and the Democratic party’s attention, proving he has redirected a major political party to himself. And in the meantime, conservatives and independents will continue to gravitate to DeSantis. Keep up the good work.
You’ve said both:
“Trump redirected the party towards true north”
“he has redirected a major political party to himself”
Sounds like you’re saying that Trump himself is the “true north” of the GOP.
Nope. Never said Trump is true north. I said the party (Republican party) was redirected to the conservative’s true north…Ron DeSantis. Trump on the other hand has the Democratic party stuck in his orbit.
You said both:
“Trump redirected the party towards true north” and
“he has redirected a major political party to himself”
The only way that Trump can redirect it to both himself AND true north is if he is true north.
I doubt that Trump agrees with you that he’s redirected the party to DeSantis. It’s the GOP base that’s still orbiting Trump.
sorry
but you have to be connected to reality
to comment here
While I don’t agree that we should belittle a group of community colleges attended by about 30K undergrads, I agree that Turley cherrypicks articles. 30K students
Alas, it is hard to tell the reason. Either (1) he truly believes that the party of Ron DeSantis actually cares about freedom of speech; (2) he is limited by his Fox contract to tilt his coverage in favor of conservatives; or (3) he gets the lion’s share of his news coverage from Fox and other conservative sites (i.e., this “story”, including the video and a direct quote, first appears in the College Fix , despite its self-proclaimed “right-minded” coverage and ties to DeVos (perhaps Turley forgot to provide attribution?).
I didn’t mean to belitle community colleges or students thereof, but I’ve never heard of this place before. It’s not like Holy Cross or other community college feeder schools to major universities.
One thing I have noticed about you smearing type Democrats – you lie all the time. DeSantis is not doing that at all. You are simply lying. You engage in coordinated lying campaigns. You were told to blabber about DeSantis being bad today, and here you are, doing as you are told. So tired of Democrats simply lying all the time. You guys got told to smear DeSantis today, and you all act like sheep. You cannot debate any issue honestly, so you lie all the time. You have given up on reason and intelligence and debate. Smearing is all you know now. This is why so many of the Democratic candidates in the last election refused to debate. It is a party wide thing. You have devoted yourselves to smearing, smearing, smearing.
I appreciate your concern. Your response appears to have accidentally left out any detail regarding what “lie” was included in the above post?
Please provide UCF’s course reference number for any sociology class this semester which examines race. (There is none… At a school with over 60k students.)
If the professors who teach these classes have dropped it fearing reprisal under De Santis’s new law, that would be the chilling (not to mention the intended) effect of the statute.
First. The legislature debated and passed a bill.
The bill required no teaching can favor one race over another, and cannot teach that all Whites are Racist and to teach all races are equal is in fact racist.
De Santis merely signed a bill sent from the legislature. But the PEOPLE can change the law.
Didn’t the bill also say that all not in agreement would be culled, roped, and slaughtered? I thought I read that.
This is easily disproven. The Stop-WOKE Act was not only drafted to align with DeSantis’s campaign rhetoric, but his administration has elected to appeal a District Judge’s https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/17/florida-anti-woke-law-block-colleges-education-00069252
Citing George Orwell’s 1984, US District Judge Walker wrote in that DeSantis and company seem to believe that “the State has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of ‘freedom,’” which is quite obviously not freedom at all. Zeroing in on the fact that the law targets freedom of expression that DeSantis and his fellow Republicans don’t like, Walker wrote: “The law officially bans professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints. Defendants argue that, under this Act, professors enjoy ‘academic freedom’ so long as they express only those viewpoints of which the State approves.”
Judge Walker wrote in that DeSantis and company seem to believe that “the State has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of ‘freedom,’
There is a chain of command in this system. Professor has a dept chair.>> Then Dean of the College,>> President of the university,>> Board of Regents>> Head Football Coach>>, The Legislature. The judge ignores the fact, your boss can tell you how to do your job. Your boss laying out the required parameters of your course, does no infringe on anyone’s free speech.
IF all professors had free speech, this would not be happening. But those dissecting the idiocy of CRT, get canceled and fired. I welcome free speech. But until the left fights for the right of those to speak against the orthodoxy of the left. Elections have consequences. This is what democracy looks like.
Let’s play that out. Should the “boss” (whether the dept chair or the legislature via statute) of a public university biology professor be able to restrict teaching evolutionary biology to appease evangelical voters?
Of course not. That would be a direct attack on academic freedom. this is what is happening here.
This is easily disproven. The Stop-WOKE Act was not only drafted to align with DeSantis’s campaign rhetoric, but his administration has elected to appeal a District Judge’s
Nothing disproven. A bill written by legislators, debated in the legislator. Voted on and passed, moved on to the Executive Branch to sign (or not). Appealing a judges temporary injunction is common.
Whether appealing a TRO is “common” or not, your claim that DeSantis merely signed the law is clearly incorrect when his executive branch is defending its litigation.
” what “lie” was included”
The inclusion of the lie isn’t needed when comment. You are always spinning, lying, speaking out of context, using phony links, appealing to authority especially those of questionable integrity, Finally, time has almost always proven you wrong.
Abraham Lincoln is absolutely correct.
Abraham Lincoln: “You are simply lying.”
Me: What lie are you talking about?
You: The inclusion of the lie isn’t needed when comment.” [whatever that means.]
Ridiculous. Critical race theory is complete propaganda. The reason we are in this mess is because everyone stayed quiet and did not stand up to push for real education – reading writing and arithmetic. STEM is taking a beating to SJW, CRT, Social Emotional Learning, Masturbation, Queer sex and just about every other DIE subject out there. Kids today are not educated, they are indoctrinated. Oppression teaching to kids to the exclusion of real subject matter is a great way to dumb them down. To demand real education should be the default, not the defence mechanism it has become, of which you do not agree.
Got it. So government control > academic freedom.
(OT)
Rep. McCarthy did not get enough votes in the first round to be Speaker of the House. First time in 100 years that it wasn’t decided on the first vote. Time will tell whether he picks up votes in a later vote, or someone else is chosen as Speaker.
The House Republicans are off to a great start.
Oh, look, it is another off topic comment by the smear artist.
In other words, there actually is democracy on the Republican side.
How is it any more democratic than any other Speaker vote?
They are. McCarthy has had to agree to many excellent rules changes to become speaker.
I am happy with most of what he has agreed to.
Even democrats should be. The changes empower house members over leadership and will benefit republicans and democrats.
It took Thomas Jefferson 36 votes to become president.
Slaughterhouse Jive
Sorry Professor, letting the noose around their necks guy off with “we all say something bad sometimes” doesn’t pass the smell test. Would a cracker from the south with a noose receive the same generosity. I too agree that he can say what he wants to say but I offer no let off the hook excuse for his statement. He is who he is. They are who they are.
When the faculty member said to put the rope around their necks and lead them to slaughter was it before or after he put on his white cape? In which hand was he carrying his torch? How is it that the faculty members on the left have become what they say they despise? Those who wore the white capes and carried the torches through the night used the same argument of justification as the leftist faculty members of today. What is the argument? They are inferior so we are justified in their elimination. Just a little bit of centralized government repeating.
Corkins isn’t on the faculty.
Anonymous, the good Professor Turley has given example after example of faculty members who have voiced the same sentiments. You could have said that you do not agree with the proposed slaughter but you did not. One then can only consider that you do agree with his proposed slaughter. Are we surprised?
“You could have said that you do not agree with the proposed slaughter but you did not.”
You’re a liar. I said so in my very first comment:
https://jonathanturley.org/2023/01/03/put-a-rope-on-them-and-take-them-to-the-slaughterhouse-college-board-trustee-calls-for-culling-dei-critics/comment-page-1/#comment-2251091
I am not surprised that you lie about me. It’s one of your favorite ways of trolling.
Lots of different people post on here under the “Anonymous” title.
Anonymous, you are correct Corkins is not on a faculty. However, the heart of the matter is that this man has repeated what other leftist faculty members have said. You dont’t like it so you change the subject. Whats new.
Guilty by association, eh? You might want to… think-that-through.
I love it. You make a totally false statement thinkitthrough and the other guy calls you out for your lie and you claim the other guy is changing the subject. Impossible to discuss anything with anyone who can’t focus
And there goes the last truly non-woke county in all of California. Is there no end to this madness? These people really are a cancer, and generationally, it is only going to get worse. The rest of us won’t be in the workforce forever.
Professor Turley writes, “However, there are references to faculty who have opposed DEI measures. That would likely include a group called the Renegade Institute for Liberty with history Professors Matthew Garrett and Erin Miller, who teach at Bakersfield College.’
Now, go back to the top of the good professor’s post and click on the hyperlinked word, “apologized,” as in, “…Corkin has since apologized.” This will take you to a an article describing this incident. There you will find this:
“The Renegade Institute for Liberty describes itself as ‘a coalition of Bakersfield College faculty dedicated to the free speech, open inquiry, critical thinking to advance American ideals within the broader Western tradition of meritocracy, individual agency, civic virtue, liberty of conscience and free markets…'”
“…Through intellectual exploration and reason, the Institute works to preserve each of the above virtues as necessary for a free people and to advance the cause of liberty in America….But some say the institute has made them feel unsafe.”
So now, institutions that state what appears to be an admirable, laudable objective for their students, are criticized? silenced? punished?
Years ago, those who were discriminated against rightly had their day of reckoning, either through EEOC complaint or civil litigation. Many legitimate plaintiffs received multi-million-dollar awards/verdicts.
Now, people merely need to assert that they “felt” unsafe or threatened, and we jump….a very, very bad precedent to establish.
Lin,
Well said.
Totally agree
On the lighter side:
Third-grade teacher Ms. Gaywood (she/her) became frustrated during the first day back from the holiday break when she discovered half her students had detransitioned and were no longer identifying as made-up genders.
https://babylonbee.com/news/teacher-frustrated-as-half-her-students-detransitioned-over-christmas-break
Professor Turley,
I greatly appreciate your shining the light on this Orwellian activity (and continually trumpeting the cause of academic freedom) in such an intellectual and thoughtful way. I was in graduate school in the early 90s and saw this coming with the push for “speech codes” that, at the time, were considered somewhat fringe.
That said, my department (a humanities department at a Mid-Atlantic university) was a true assortment of faculty and students with vastly different political perspectives and philosophies. Yet, everyone was respectful and civil in their discussions/”arguments.” You did not have to accept the other “side’s” position; however, you respectfully listened to (and gave appropriate consideration to) those that were presented with actual support, and not just rhetoric. Some of my most enjoyable discussions were with faculty and fellow graduate students whose place on the political spectrum was decidedly to the left of my own.
Unfortunately, what used to be the university experience (being exposed to different ideas/concepts for the purpose of becoming a more well-rounded and educated individual) has given way to the demand for monolithic curricula and thought. Indoctrination as opposed to education.
Thank you for fighting the good fight!
Diversity [dogma] (i.e. color judgment, class-based bigotry), Inequity, Exclusion (DIE)
That said, diversity of individuals, minority of one.
“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.”
― John Stuart Mill, On Liberty